Frugal Utes: The 10 Most-Fuel-Efficient SUVs in the U.S.

Headed over hill and dale but still need money for a tent and firewood? Try one of these.

For a relative newcomer to the U.S. SUV market, Nissan has done quite well with its larger trucks, but the Rogue is all-new and is related less to the Armada and Xterra and more to the Sentra with which it shares a platform. That Sentra architecture graces the Rogue with best-in-class acceleration, handling, and braking—something we can’t say about the donor vehicle—although the Rogue comes only with a CVT. Swoopy, mini-Murano styling makes the Rogue our pick for best in show, but the upswept rear quarters hinder rearward visibility. Our other major gripe is the small back seat, barely larger than the Sentra’s.

A two-year resident of our 5Best Trucks hall and champion of our most recent wee-SUV comparo, the RAV4 does it all just as well as—if not better than—anything else in its class. It also offers an optional third-row seat, although only people with single-digit ages will fit back there. If you spring $2000 more for the V-6, you’ll sacrifice just 2 mpg around town—a fifth gear in the transmission keeps highway mileage the same—while gaining 103 horsepower and 81 pound-feet.

Snagging Rihanna’s phone number during a traffic jam might be easier than finding bad things to say about the Honda CR-V (relative to other small SUVs, of course). It’s spacious, comfortable, drives like a Honda—which is to say excellent—and the cabin design and the materials are first-rate, especially for the price. The one obvious point of contention is the snout, but whatever you think of it, you can’t call it boring or uninspired. There’s only one available powertrain, and it’s quiet, smooth, and efficient. Like all the vehicles on this list, you can choose four-wheel drive if you’d like worse fuel economy, but we recommend just getting snow tires.

Stick with us here for a second. What makes an SUV more desirable than a sedan? Space? Cargo volume? Safety? Compensatory aptitude? Allow us to dismantle these arguments. Space: The Jetta SportWagen has 51 cubic feet of space up front, 43 for those in the back seat, matching many of the tall wagons on this list. Cargo volume: Okay, fine. Not as good. Safety? The accident you have the best chance of surviving is one you don’t get into at all. With a lower center of gravity suspended by agile Rabbit parts, you have better odds of steering out of that wreck in the first place. Compensatory aptitude? It’s a diesel, man. What could be manlier than filling up your rig alongside all the heavy-duty pickups and Freightliners at the world’s largest truck stop on I-80? Might wander off-road? Bet you don’t. But if you do, and a boulder snatches that pricey diesel-treatment tech off your undercarriage, you can say, “I told you so.” Deal? If you want practicality and fuel economy in one easy package, it doesn’t get better than this. (The Jetta TDI comes as a sedan, too.)